Venezuela Confronts Twilight of Chávez Era

Chávez Cancer Raises Specter of Elections and New Dynamic for Oil-Rich Nation

By

José de Córdoba and

Kejal Vyas

Updated Dec. 9, 2012 7:48 p.m. ET

CARACAS—Venezuela is embarking on a period of deep political uncertainty after President Hugo Chávez announced over the weekend that his cancer had returned and for the first time named a successor, suggesting that his disease could be terminal and his 14-year-grip on power coming to an end.

Mr. Chávez, in a televised address late on Saturday, said he was returning to Cuba for emergency surgery in the coming days after malignant cells had reappeared in the same pelvic region where the socialist leader has been operated...